My Local Park is Saving My Life

I live less than a mile from Cook Park in Tigard. For those who aren't familiar with it, Cook Park is an 80 acre park that connects to both Durham City Park and the Tualatin City Park. In my pre-chemo days, my various running routes (whether a 4, 5, or 6 mile run) took me through both Durham City Park and into Cook Park. 

I took this photo on my walk on April 1.

I loved running through the park. In the mornings it was usually quiet without many people on the path. I ran on the trails through the trees and along the Tualatin River. I tried to keep running through chemo, but it got to the point where I just couldn't do it any longer. But I can still walk, and so now I walk to and through the park when I can, and it has become an informal, but important part of my treatment plan.

There's just something about being among the trees that is good for my soul. There's something about standing on the edge of the Tualatin River and watching the water eddy and swirl as it flows by downstream that is deeply good for me. I will confess it has brought me to tears more than once. There's something about the smell of the fresh, damp air, and the movement of walking, and the sound of my feet crunching on the path, and the birds singing, and through the winter and into this spring seeing the buds on trees and bushes swell and turn green and put out leaves, and the bright colors of the flowers blooming -- the whole combination of it all feels so healing, so nurturing, so good for me...I can't imagine going through all these rounds of chemo without it.

I wonder about people who receive treatment like mine who don't have access to greenspace. I've seen a couple of Department of Corrections prisoners come to the infusion clinic for treatment. I can't imagine receiving chemotherapy and then going back to a prison. I wonder about people who live in densely populated urban areas who might not have a local park to go to like I do. And I wonder if doctors should include in their recommendations and treatment plans regularly accessing a local park or greenspace. It could be, "Take your medication at this time, and go to your local park three times per week."

I think I took my local parks a little bit for granted before chemo. Now I see them as essential for my well-being. I am grateful for many things these days, but now every time I go for a walk in my local park, I am especially grateful that it exists, that I live so close, and that there are people who maintain it so people like me can be blessed by all that it has to offer.